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Leadership
Leadership is one of the 14 Hero Abilities available in Master of Magic. The purpose of the Leadership ability is to increase the Hero's own attack strength - and also the attack strength of each Normal Unit and Hero accompanying him/her into battle. The bonuses are small, but since they potentially apply to many units at the same time, they can have a great impact on the outcome of a battle. Leadership has two levels: "Basic" and "Super". A Hero possessing Basic Leadership gives and receives during battle, for each he/she has (including the first level). A Hero possessing Super Leadership gives and receives per level instead. The Hero also gives and receives half the total bonus to any other direct-damage attack present, except for . The final bonus is always rounded down to a whole number after being tallied. Fantastic Units do not enjoy the effects of Leadership, and this includes the Undead and Chaos Channeled units. Unfortunately, it also includes Torin the Chosen, who doesn't even benefit from his own Leadership (but other units accompanying him do benefit as normal). Note that the bonus from Leadership applies only during combat, and does not affect any unit's attack strength score on the overland map. Also, Leadership is non-cumulative, meaning that if two or more units with this ability are in the same army on the same battlefield, the game applies only the strongest Leadership bonus it can find. 3 Champions and 2 non-Champions possess Leadership by default - two of whom (Sir Harold and Torin) possesses Super Leadership. Deth Stryke may may occasionally upgrade to Super Leadership thanks to Random Abilities. Spyder the Rogue and Valana the Bard are the two non-Champions that have Leadership by default. 14 other Heroes may select Leadership or even Super Leadership as one of their Random Abilities. Description Morale plays an important aspect in Master of Magic, increasing a unit's performance. Though it is not mentioned in the game directly, Morale can be influenced by many things - including spells (like Terror or Prayer), training (Experience bonuses) or Leadership. In most cases, Morale can adjust a unit's basic attributes or even its abilities, causing it to fight or defend better or worse than normal. Leadership is a very important skill for a Hero. While it does not greatly increase the Hero's own performance, it can inspire others to fight better than they otherwise would. In particular, Leadership as found in Master of Magic allows entire armies to strike above their weight, causing more damage to opponents. Effect The purpose of the Leadership ability is to increase the attack strengths of the Hero him/herself, as well as the attack strengths of all Normal Units and Heroes accompanying him/her into battle. This is done by applying bonuses to the attack strength. Leadership acts in a peculiar manner: first of all, it does not take effect immediately, instead requiring the Hero to gain at least 1 or 2 before the ability begins to work at all. Secondly, it gives different bonuses to different Attack Types, making explanation of this ability more complicated. Primarily, Leadership acts on the of the Hero and his company. Though the bonuses are small, they can potentially be very significant given that each valid unit in the army receives the same bonus, simultaneously. Thus, all units that possess any sort of Melee Attack will now deliver a little more damage with each attack. In particular this is great for , since each individual 's attack strength is increased - giving a surprisingly strong bonus. Furthermore, if any of the valid units in the army (including the Hero him/herself) possess any of the attacks listed below, those attacks are also augmented: * * * * The bonus here is much smaller than that given to - exactly half as much. It is still, most often, quite significant. Note that receive no bonus at all. Neither do any of the other Attack Types not mentioned above - most of which do not deliver direct damage anyway. The exact bonuses applied by Leadership depend on the Hero's level, as well as on which version of this ability the Hero possesses. "Super" Leadership provides a 50% greater benefit than the "Basic" version. The bonus is only applied during combat. On the overland map, neither the Hero nor any units stacked with him/her will feel any improvement to their attack strengths from this ability. Of course, the effect during battle is what's important, since units only make attacks during battle. The bonus is applied to all friendly Normal Units and Heroes, including the Leadership Hero him/herself as repeatedly mentioned above. Fantastic Units, as well as the Undead and Chaos Channeled units, feel no bonus whatsoever. The Leadership bonus is non-cumulative. This means that if two or more Heroes possessing Leadership are on the same battlefield (and in the same army), only one of the bonuses is selected and applied to all units. The game will automatically select the strongest Leadership bonus it can find on any living Hero for this purpose. Leadership is normally cumulative with all other Attack Strength bonuses, such as those from Might or Giant Strength. Basic Leadership A Hero with "Basic" Leadership gives and receives (or if you will, +0.333...) for each he/she has. This includes the first Experience level. The total amount is rounded down after being tallied together, so all leftover fractions are wasted. As a result, the Hero's Leadership gives no bonus until he/she reaches Experience Level 3 ("Captain"), at which point he/she will give and receive exactly . Every 3 additional gained beyond that will add another . By the time the Hero reaches ("Demi-God"), he/she gives and receives a total of from this ability. The bonus to other attack types (as listed above) is exactly half the bonus to , +1/6 (or if you will, +0.166...) per level to each such attack found on the affected units. Since this too is rounded down (with fractions ignored), it means that the Hero will not give nor receive this bonus at all until he/she reaches ("Lord"), at which point the bonus is exactly +1. No higher bonuses are given by "Basic" Leadership to these attacks, even at ("Demi-God"). Remember that the same bonus is given to each "regular Normal Unit" and Hero in the Leader's army. Super Leadership A Hero with "Super" Leadership gives and receives for each he/she has. This includes the first Experience level. The total amount is rounded down after being tallied together, so all leftover fractions are wasted. As a result, the Hero's Leadership gives no bonus until he/she reaches ("Myrmidon"), at which point he/she will give and receive exactly . Every 2 additional gained beyond that will add another . By the time the Hero reaches ("Demi-God"), he/she gives and receives a total of from this ability, rounded down to . The bonus to other attack types (as listed above) is exactly half the bonus to , +0.25 per level to each such attack found on the affected units. Since this too is rounded down (with fractions ignored), it means that the Hero will not give nor receive this bonus at all until he/she reaches ("Commander"), at which point the bonus is exactly +1. The bonus is only upgraded once - when the Hero reaches ("Superhero") - at which it is worth +2. Remember that the same bonus is given to each "regular Normal Unit" and Hero in the Leader's army. Improvement Table The table below shows exactly how much benefit the Leadership ability gives at each Experience Level. Note that all values have been rounded down as they would be in-game: Heroes with Default Leadership There are exactly 5 Heroes in the game that possess Leadership in each and every game you play. They are: Spyder the Rogue Valana the Bard Deth Stryke the Swordsman Sir Harold the Knight Torin the Chosen Of the five, three are Champions. Note that both Sir Harold and Torin possess Super Leadership by default. The third Hero, Deth Stryke, only has "Basic" Leadership, but may occasionally acquire Super Leadership through Random Abilities (see below). Torin's Exception The game considers Torin the Chosen to be both a Hero and a Fantastic Unit simultaneously. He is the only unit in the game that belongs to both types simultaneously. This leads to some confusion, because different rules apply to each type. Unfortunately, in Torin's case, he is considered to be a Fantastic Unit as far as the Leadership ability is concerned. Since Leadership does not apply to such units, Torin does not enjoy any bonuses from his own ability. However, Torin does indeed bestow bonuses to other units in his army, as described above in this article. He simply does not bestow the same bonuses to himself. Leadership as a Random Ability Some Heroes may occasionally acquire Leadership as one of their Random Abilities. Some, including Deth Stryke (who possesses Leadership by default, see above), may even acquire Super Leadership this way. The Leadership ability belongs to both the "Any" and "Fighter" categories. Any Hero with at least one pick from either category may occasionally choose Leadership. There are 16 Heroes in the game with access to these categories, and thus can gain either Leadership or Super Leadership as a result: Remember that Random Abilities are determined at the start of the campaign, and will not change during the game. However, a Hero may select different Random Abilities for the next campaign. For a Hero to gain Super Leadership, he/she must spend 2 picks if he/she does not already possess Leadership by default, but only 1 pick if he/she does already possess the "Basic" ability by default. That is why some Heroes do not have access to the "Super" version - they only get 1 pick! Category:Abilities Category:Hero Abilities